Tune In Me
by awesomesen
Summary: St Bevelle's is the best private school around, and Rikku is the most unlikely scholarship student around. A great opportunity for education has presented itself... too bad no one is actually going to take advantage of it. [RxG, BxYxT, high school AU!]
1. TUNE IN ME

_author's note: i'll try to avoid having too many of these in the future. this story, TUNE IN ME, is best classified as a "high school AU," also known as "one of those silly little stories where everyone is for some reason attending school." i've always sort of wanted to write one, but never had the nerve. i finally did and vowed to never let it see the light of day, but certain friends threatened me—how sad, how sad. my compromise: i will post this. i will also update this. but i will not make it a high priority project, i have too many other WiPs for that. that means that updates for this will be slow, for which i apologize. it is a story meant for my own self amusement, and as such i don't want to take it too seriously._

_a few other notes: the story takes its title from a silly little song called VISIONS OF BOYS, by Hideaki Matsuoka. the ages of various characters have all been tweaked slightly, but not too much. Yuna and Tidus are a year younger than they ought to be in relation to the others; Baralai and Nooj are a year older. pairings in this story will become apparent very quickly. all the characters play a part, with a greater slant on YuRiPa and the CS3._

_and no, i'm afraid that Cid doesn't own a nightclub in this one._

* * *

x x x

* * *

TUNE IN ME (visions of boys)

_Try to tune in, tune in me_

_I can't read your feeling._

_Try to tune in, tune in me_

_But I'm believing, believe me, please.

* * *

_

x x x

* * *

The Academy of Saint Bevelle had a reputation for excellence, and was known for only admitting the best and brightest students. They prided themselves of their prestige, and photographs of famous and massively successful alumni served as decoration along the school's main hallways, which had wood flooring instead of linoleum, arched windows and high ceilings. 

It sort of gave Rikku the creeps.

"Each student," the vice-principal, a very tall, stern looking woman was saying, "has four classes of an hour and a half each day. They are expected to be on time and will not in fact be let into the room if more than fifteen minutes late, unless they have a properly authorized note of explanation. If not, they will be noted as having skipped the class, and will be penalized appropriately. We take education very seriously here, you see."

The tour was being given to Rikku and her father. Cid looked even more out of place than Rikku did. "I git it, don't ya worry," he said, snappily, scratching at his unshaven jaw. He probably wanted a cigarette, Rikku figured. Or even just to leave. But still, it was awful nice of him to take the tour with her.

Rikku still didn't know how she had been accepted into Saint Bevelle. Well, she did, but it seemed so unlikely, somehow, so make believe. Last year, her sophomore year in a normal public high school on the other side of the city, Rikku had been on the swim-team. And had scored first in her age group in the Nationals, in both the 100 and 200 meter free-styles. After that meet, a tall man who had introduced himself as Saint Bevelle's swim team coach had approached her. He was a scout, and she apparently fit his criteria.

It was a very good school, famously so. Rikku's family would never have been able to afford it, even if Rikku had been able to get in. Of course she had jumped at the chance to transfer in. But now that Rikku _was _in, getting the official tour two days before the start of the school year, it was just... scary. Maybe the halls would echo less when they were filled with students.

"—Uniforms are required," the assistant principal was now explaining. "Each student is given one winter and one summer uniform at the start of term, but are expected to buy at least one other on their own. Summer uniforms are not to be worn in winter, and vice versus. The date of change is assigned each year. Winter uniforms, which you'll start out wearing, consist of a white blouse, green skirt, vest and tie. Girls are allowed one ear piercing and no makeup. Jewelry must be kept simple and tasteful. You will be given a book of school rules later, and I urge you to read the chapter on dress carefully. Violators of the dress code will be sent home to change, and their absence will be counted as 'cutting.'"

Rikku's old school hadn't used a uniform. The dress code there had been pretty lax: no mini-skirts, no obscenities printed on shirts, no clothes with spikes or excessive chains. Rikku was trying her hardest to pay attention, but her mind was starting to wander. Saint Bevelle's was on the opposite end of the City from where Rikku lived, in the ritzier part. Palm trees lined the streets, and buildings were elaborate mansions with white painted columns, lush gardens, delicate wrought iron gates and tiled walkways. It was all very pretty, but Saint Bevelle's didn't look anything like a school to Rikku. She would have guessed the neighborhood was residential, the place where all of the City's rich people lived, but she wondered if all the buildings on the street were offices or something, if rich people just built their offices that way.

"How many kids go to this school?" Rikku asked, interrupting the assistant principal, who was explaining to Cid something about the schedule. The woman looked down at her distastefully before replying.

"Just under four hundred," she said. "We at Saint Bevelle's are _very _exclusive. Unfortunately, our athletics program is very, oh, arrogant." Rikku had the distinct feeling she was being insulted somehow, but couldn't quite word it or a comeback. Four hundred students? That was it? Rikku's old school had had at least fifteen hundred.

Rikku let her mind wander completely this time. Her older brother had teased her when he found out she had been let into Saint Bevelle's. Niki had never done anything fancy like that, or even gone on to college. He had been an average student at best, and when he had graduated he had just gone to work for their father's garage. Thinking about it, Rikku wasn't sure if her father had ever been to college, either. As far back as she could remember, he'd always been a mechanic, Niki too. Her mom had died in a car accident when Rikku was too young to remember, and Rikku had no other relatives that she knew of. So it might be, she thought, something like pride welling up in her despite her nerves, that she was going to be the first one in her family to make something of herself!

"Pay attention," Cid muttered at her, giving Rikku a look like _don't-make-me-listen-to-her-alone. _

"What classes am I gonna have?" Rikku asked, wondering suddenly. She knew she would be on the swim team, but oddly enough her schedule other than that hadn't warranted her notice until now. She hadn't really thought about the actual school part until this tour.

"You will receive your schedule in the mail either today or tomorrow. I cannot say what classes you will have precisely, but I'd imagine the standard courses. A science course, a literature and writing course, and so on." The woman didn't seem too thrilled to be answering questions as opposed to lecturing, but let Rikku's prompt segue her into a speech all the same. "We offer many programs in addition to these. The student can sign up for an honors program if he or she chooses, allowing them to take some low level college classes in addition to regular ones. We at Saint Bevelle's have a close relationship with Remiem University, and there is even a tutoring program between the two schools. Many of our students later go on to Remiem after graduation."

Rikku tuned out again. Remiem University was a pretty famous school worldwide, so of course she had heard of it. It didn't surprise her that the two schools were in some way connected, but then again Rikku didn't really know much about fancy schools and if that was normal or not. The vice principal lead Rikku and Cid up to the second floor, which was carpeted and had square shaped windows but otherwise looked every bit as fancy as the first floor. She explained to Cid about the school's grading policy, and he looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but listening to the lecture. Rikku knew she needed to pay attention, but she really just couldn't find the motivation. She let herself lag behind the adults.

The group arrived at a set of fancy double-doors made of glass and fancy wood designs. "Our library," the vice-principal said dismissively, as if it was nothing noteworthy. She opened one of the doors and ushered Cid and Rikku inside. The library was huge, much bigger than the library in Rikku's old school. A checkout counter was on the left as they entered, and a few rows of computers to the right, polished metal and plastic. The books were in front of them, and there were wooden tables and chairs scattered about. The room, Rikku realized, probably wasn't all that big, but it was so full of shelves - each packed full of books - that it seemed that way, somehow.

"You there," the vice principal called suddenly, glaring over at one of the tables. A girl Rikku hadn't noticed on her first glance around the room lifted her head slightly. She had a rather pale complexion that contrasted neatly with the sheer amount of black she was wearing. When the girl saw who it was, she stood up.

"Yeah?" Her tone was very cold.

"What are you doing here?" the vice-principal frowned.

"Photography club, ma'am," the girl replied, not managing to sound all that polite. "I'm early, so I was hanging out here."

"That _outfit_ is not your uniform. And make-up is forbidden. We've spoken about this before, Isabel."

Isabel rolled her eyes and picked up a big, bulky bag that had been leaning against the chair she had been sitting at. "School isn't even in session yet," she muttered, walking towards them.

"Excuse me?"

"I'll go change," Isabel said dully, walking past them and opening and shutting the library doors with more aggression then was probably warranted.

To the vice principal's credit, she was able to turn the event quickly and tidily into a lecture praising the school. "We have many after school clubs here at Saint Bevelle's, most of which continue to meet over breaks and vacations..."

* * *

x x x

* * *

Rikku approved of the pool. Twenty-five meters long, two meters deep, clean and well lit. The depth warnings, line markings, all had been freshly painted shiny black, and the water was almost perfectly still, the lane rope clean and neatly spaced. The whole room was cool and smelled strongly of chlorine. 

The tour had finally ended. The vice principal had allowed them to keep exploring the school if they wished, as long as they didn't break any rules or interfere with any clubs (although Rikku hadn't seen any other people besides that Isabel girl, and her not since then). Cid had elected to go home, having run out of patience with this whole affair, but Rikku had stayed behind, wanting to check out the pool. There was a whole separate building behind the school and across a soccer field, not just a pool house but everything else the athletic department needed - supplies, a weight room, locker rooms and an indoor basketball court. The whole complex was so large and spacious. It was harder than ever to imagine there were hardly any students. The world of private schools, Rikku figured.

Rikku had been swimming as long as she could remember. She'd always liked it, and always been good at it, but she had only started swimming as a sport when she entered high school and there had been a swimming unit in gym class. She had been urged to join the swim team by her teacher, and since she hadn't been in any other clubs, she had. There really hadn't been more to it then that, at least at first. Next thing she knew, swimming was her life.

Too bad she didn't have a swimsuit. After this whole thing, a swim would be nice. Oh well. Rikku glanced at her watch - it was half two. If she wanted to catch the next train, she should probably get going, seeing as her dad was probably long gone. She didn't really mind. Public transport in the City was highly efficient and had recently been renovated, so that the metro was a sleek metal-and-plastic system painted in blues and blacks and whites. Everything was like that, really, once you were out of the slums. Apparently, there had been some big project completed shortly before Rikku was born, rebuilding and redecorating the entire city, painting, restoring, and lining all the streets with palms. It still looked brand new, even with the millions of people living in it.

Rikku cast one more admiring glance around the poolroom before heading out.

There was a boy on the soccer field now, doing stretches before practice. He must have only just arrived, since Rikku hadn't noticed him on her way in. He was a little on the short side, although still much taller than Rikku, with short, styled hair that had obviously been dyed blond. And a cheerful face. He looked over at Rikku as soon as he noticed her, then grinned and waved. She waved back before changing course and heading over to him: Rikku didn't know anyone at this school, after all, and it would be much nicer to start the school year with a friend.

"You're new, right?" the boy asked right off. She blinked at him, and he explained. "Well, you sort of start recognizing everyone after a while here, and I've never seen you before... I'd have remembered." That comment might have been directed towards Rikku's outfit, which today consisted of a long white trench-coat over a blue mini dress, knee-high blue socks, white boots, and blue plastic sunglasses pushed up onto her forehead, her blonde hair tied into a bun stuck with two (blue) markers.

"I'm transferring in this year," Rikku said, not bothered if the boy didn't like her clothes, because very few people shared her sense of style. "Name's Rikku."

"Tidus," the boy said cheerfully enough. "What year are you in? We don't get many transfers. Sports?" Rikku nodded. "Yeah, I was, too. Soccer. My dad was a pro, and I'm at least as good as he was, so I guess they figured they'd recruit me early." Tidus shrugged. "What sport are you?"

"Swimming..."

"Coach for that is Ms Lakkam," Tidus said. "She's okay, I think. I don't really know."

"I guess I'll find out," Rikku said brightly. "What're you doing here? A club?"

"Nah, just screwing around," Tidus said, lifting a soccer ball with just his foot, kicking it straight up and catching it. "I'm waiting for a friend. What are _you _doing here?"

"I took the official tour," Rikku replied, figuring that Tidus had to take one at some point too, if he had transferred in as well. "When'd you transfer?"

"When I was sophomore. Year before last. Hey," Tidus added brightly, "you know how to play?" He indicated the soccer ball in his hands hopefully.

Rikku shrugged. "Kick the ball into the goal, right? Not hard."

"Oh, you wish," Tidus said cheerfully, launching into a long and energetic lecture about the art of the soccer game, complete with exuberant hand gestures and plenty of tangents.

They never did actually get to playing, but over an hour later they were still talking, having shared life stories - or life highlights, anyway - and then stories about swim-meets and soccer games, horror stories and victory stories alike. Somehow this prompted a discussion on comics, and Rikku had just finished detailing for Tidus the plot of a particularly bad one she had read just the other day when the girl from the library walked up to where they had plopped down in the middle of the soccer field's grass.

"There you are," she said dryly, her heavy bag slung over a shoulder. "Making friends, Tidus?"

"Yeah, yeah," Tidus said, climbing to his feet and wiping his jeans free of stray bits of dirt and grass, "Hey, who was it that waited for you so that he could give you a ride home, out of the goodness of his heart?"

The girl chuckled slightly. "You sound like Gippal."

"I try my best..." Tidus said, then stuck out his tongue at her.

Rikku climbed to her feet as well. Not having wanted to get grass-stains on her coat, she had been balanced on top of Tidus' soccer ball. "Hey, I know you. I saw you earlier, in the library. Um, you're Isabel, right?"

Tidus was suddenly overcome with giggles. Rikku felt embarrassed. Had she gotten the name wrong? Oh no, she had tried so hard to make a good first impression, but—

The girl frowned darkly at her. "No, it isn't."

"I'm sorry!" Rikku squeaked, intimidated by the taller girl.

Tidus shrugged. "Aw, be fair, she didn't know," he said to the girl. "Rikku, this is Isabel Paine, and she tends to hurt people that don't call her by her surname only."

"Oh..." Rikku said. She didn't see anything wrong with the name Isabel, but whatever. "Nice to meet you, Paine." She grinned feebly, attempting a joke. "I guess calling you Izzy is out?"

"Very much so," Paine replied without any humor.

"Okay..." Rikku was starting to get the feeling that this wasn't going very well. "So, uh, why do you hate your name? If it's okay to ask," she added quickly.

"Cuz she wants desperately to be emo," Tidus suggested perkily, unfazed when Paine glared at him.

"I just don't like my name, that's all," she said. "Tidus, come on. We're going to be late picking up Yuna at this rate."

"Yuna?" Rikku asked, looking at Tidus (who on a whole seemed like a much nicer person than Paine, who was started to unnerve Rikku a little too much).

"She's another friend of ours. Super honors student, that kinda thing. She's our age," Tidus said, gesturing towards himself and Paine, "but she does some college classes, too, just for the heck of it."

"Tidus likes her," Paine said dryly. Tidus made a face even as he flushed slightly.

"_Paine!_" he whined.

"It's true, isn't it? You told Gippal."

"And he told you?" Tidus sounded dismayed.

"It's your own fault for trusting him," Paine pointed out.

"...That sounds neat," Rikku said vaguely. It sounded silly, but it hadn't really occurred to her that Tidus might have a group of his own, his own friends already. She was starting to feel a little left out. Things had been going really well, too. "Hey, uh, you know," she said, "I should probably get going too, or I might miss the train."

"Huh?" Tidus looked confused, drawn out of his bickering fight with Paine. "Oh, yeah, guess so."

"Yeah..." Rikku lingered for a moment, in case one of them was going to say something else to her, or invite her along or something, but they went back at once to discussing the lack of secret keeping abilities of this 'Gippal' kid. "Well, see you!" she said brightly, before turning around and leaving.

Tidus waved to her back as she left. "See you in school!"

Paine waited until the blonde girl was out of earshot before turning to Tidus. "Interesting clothes your friend has."

"It's kinda cool, I think," Tidus said, shrugging. "At least she doesn't wear bondage clothes like _you _do."

"Oh, shut up. Let's go?"

"Maybe I want to hang out here some more," Tidus said contrarily, kicking the soccer ball towards one of the goals to punctuate.

"That's fine too," Paine said calmly, "I'm sure Yuna won't really mind if we're late." Tidus hesitated. Paine continued, "and I'm sure that that friend of hers - Baralai? - would be more than happy to keep her company while she waited."

Tidus spun around abruptly, flushing embarrassed again as he pulled his car keys from his pocket, letting them jangle from his hand. "Come on now, Paine, let's go," he said with gritted teeth.

Paine laughed out loud. "You really are predictable."

* * *

x x x

* * *

_thanks very much to kj8673 for beta reading, help with surnames, and letting me think aloud at her. and also for duifully bringing up that nightclub. thanks also to aquagia and te non sum for additional prodding, threatening, and seymour-matchmaking._

_and thanks especially to everyone reading this! chapter two will be uploaded next thursday. _


	2. HEART ALONG THE PAVEMENT

_author's note: the time is 1:57 am over here, which means that for me at least it is thursday. as promised, chapter two. thanks very much to my reviewers and everyone who read the last chapter (and of course, everyone reading these words right now): i was amazed with the attention given to this story. thanks as well to **chacusha **for her help with swim team information (although that doesn't play into this chapter), and to **kj8673** for her beta reading, grammar checking, patient tolerance of silliness and for calling me on my college BS. :P _

_chapter two takes it's title from the song KISS WA SHONEN O ROOHI SURU (kiss wasted on a boy), by Tokyo Performance Doll - yes, i am having fun naming my chapters after oldish japanese pop songs, why? one last little detail: i have taken the liberty of giving surnames to the characters, two of which you'll learn in this chapter. both are puns of a sort, and i'm wondering if anyone will figure them out (not that they are terribly difficult ones). but anyway.  
_

_please enjoy this chapter._

* * *

x x x

* * *

HEART ALONG THE PAVEMENT (kiss wasted on a boy)

* * *

x x x

* * *

"Late..." Yuna sighed to herself, looking around the parking lot. She wasn't really surprised. Tidus was a great friend, but he was hardly ever a prompt one. She spotted a bench close by and headed over it, sitting down and resting her bag on her lap. She felt so silly, sitting like this. Like some sort of little kid. It was bad enough that she was already the only high school student in her class, and Yuna was sure that this would only make her look younger than she was. 

Remiem's term had started three days ago, even though Saint Bevelle's wouldn't begin for another two days. Yuna was in an honors program, which meant that instead of taking her last class of the day at Saint Bevelle's, she'd leave early, take the metro to Remiem, and join a college class there. She wanted to do it, and was confident of her abilities to succeed in it, but this early in they year Yuna was just nervous. She didn't know anyone, they were all older than her... and now she had to wait like some sort of small child for her ride home. Yuna would have just taken the train, but Tidus had promised to pick her up, and...

"Miss Alexander?" Yuna looked up from her lap, distracted from her pessimism by the familiar voice. She started to stand, not sure what to do.

"No, um, Yuna's fine - yes? I mean, did you want something?" Yuna paused. "Hi?"

Her addresser chuckled slightly and moved to sit next to her on the bench. He was Baralai Ebon, a classmate of hers - well, if that was what you could call it. Baralai actually was a college student, unlike Yuna. He was the closest thing to a friend that Yuna had here at Remiem... and he was smart, polite, mature, and - well, frankly - pretty good looking, too. He made Yuna nervous.

"Waiting for a ride?" Baralai asked her.

"Oh... yes. My friend Tidus," Yuna admitted. "Are you waiting for a ride?"

"No, I live close by, I usually walk," Baralai said. Beyond the parking lot was a small park, and on the other side of the park was a row of tall, gleaming apartment buildings. He pointed at them. "I live just behind those buildings."

"That must be nice," Yuna said. "I live - pretty far from here, actually. City's edge." He probably didn't care about that. Yuna hated being so nervous. "So I need a ride. But Tidus is late, he always is..."

"Your boyfriend?"

Yuna for some reason blushed, even though the question was completely void of personal emotion. "No... Just a friend. He just has a car, I mean, it's not like I'm only friends with him because he gives me rides!" It was very important that Baralai didn't think she was that selfish.

He looked more amused than anything else, though. "You can relax, Yuna. I'm not going to bite."

"Okay," Yuna said feebly. She didn't actually know Baralai well. He was more friendly to her than most of the other students - not that they were mean, they just gave the impression of not really noticing the high school girl in their midst. He seemed to hang out with two others, from what Yuna had noticed - a frilly looking girl she didn't know the name of, and a serious looking guy named Nooj. The class they shared was Latin, and he was a good student - or at least, he was always paying very close attention when Yuna looked. "What are you studying?" she asked.

"I want to go on to law school," Baralai explained, "so I'm pre-law now."

"Oh, me too!" Yuna said brightly. She didn't mean to sound so enthusiastic, all oh-look-we-have-something-in-common, and tried to recover. "I mean, my father is a judge. So I guess I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"Judge Alexander?" Baralai guessed. Well, it wasn't a hard guess. Yuna's father was rather well known, she supposed, famous for his toughness on criminals. And since her surname was Alexander... "That's lucky. It must be a good way to learn, seeing your father at work. I've heard of Judge Alexander, of course. I admire him."

"Thanks," Yuna said. "Um, what do your parents do?"

"My father is a surgeon," Baralai said, "and my mother is a housewife. That's what she calls herself, although really she just sits around all day and raised my siblings and me with nannies." He didn't sound terribly bitter about it, though.

"That's neat. A doctor. I wanted to be one when I was younger," Yuna said. That sounded really young of her, she thought suddenly. Who talked about 'what do you want to be when you grow up' in college?

"Really? I wanted to be a zoo keeper when _I _was younger," Baralai said, smiling slightly.

Yuna laughed a little at the idea of Baralai, who always dressed somewhat formally in collared shirts and sweaters with slacks instead of jeans, wearing coveralls and taking care of monkeys.

"That was my mother's reaction, too," Baralai said dryly. Yuna was about to ask him why he had decided to go to law school instead, but just then Tidus' car—a very beat up compact that had once been red—pulled up a short distance away, Tidus leaning out the window and Paine sitting in the passenger's seat, looking bored.

"Yo, Yuna!" he called, frowning slightly, "Come on, let's go!"

"Impatient," Yuna remarked, standing up. She remembered that Baralai was still there, and turned to him, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry, my ride's here. It was nice talking to you—" a terrible thought suddenly occurred to her. "Oh, I hope I wasn't keeping you from anything!"

"Of course not, don't worry," Baralai replied, standing as well. Standing, he was a good head taller than Yuna. "I kept you company because I wanted to. I think it's admirable that you take an honors course like this. And I'd like to be friends, if that's not too forward to say."

Yuna blushed very brightly at that. "No, I, that would be—"

Tidus, impatient with Yuna's continued not-paying-attention-to-him, honked his horn twice, interrupting. Paine rolled her eyes at him and his less-than-subtle displays of jealousy.

"…I'll see you tomorrow!" Yuna said quickly, waving goodbye and hurrying over to her other friends. Paine reached back and opened the door for Yuna—the rear doors of Tidus' car had never opened from the outside—and gave her a knowing look as she climbed in.

"So that was the famous Baralai, was it?" she asked, watching Yuna's reflection in the rearview mirror. "Cute, isn't he?"

Yuna blushed. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh sure, he's _cute_," Tidus added, pulling away from the curve, "if you like boys that look like girls."

"Baralai is my _upperclassman_," Yuna insisted. "Today was the first time we'd ever really spoken outside the classroom."

"Oh, a crush from afar," Paine said, smirking. She could be absolutely unbearable when she wanted.

"I was only talking to him because you were late," Yuna insisted, faintly pink. Tidus glanced back at her in alarm.

"That's Paine's fault! She was late!"

"I wasn't," Paine insisted. "You were busy talking to that transfer student."

"Transfer student?" Yuna asked, glad to change the subject away from her. Tidus nodded as he turned onto the main street.

"Some new girl's transferring in, sports program like I did. Her name's Rikku, dunno her last name. She seems pretty cool."

"She seems like a flake to me," Paine said dismissively.

"Paine doesn't like her cuz she called her _Izzy_," Tidus announced cheerfully. Paine hit him on the arm. "Don't! You aren't allowed to hit the driver!" Tidus exclaimed, laughing.

Paine leaned back in her chair, then looked back at Yuna again. "Oh, right, I almost forgot. Gippal wanted to meet up with us, he said something about an end of vacation party."

Yuna didn't know whether four people counted as a real clique, but somehow it had gotten to be the four of them over the years—herself, Tidus, Paine and Gippal. Paine and Gippal had been friends all their lives, even though they were about as different as two people could be. Yuna, an only child, often thought they acted like brother and sister. She had gotten to be friends with Paine in their first year of high school, and Gippal through Paine. Tidus had transferred in their sophomore year, and had fit right in with the three of them, getting along with Gippal and Yuna especially. The four of them maybe hadn't been friends too long, but it felt like forever. Yuna was already dreading slightly the idea that this was their last year of school, that soon they would part ways for college.

"I don't want to meet up with Gippal," Tidus whined. "He's going to try and mess with my car again. Last time, it wouldn't start right for a week. I'm too poor to keep paying to fix it…" Tidus patted the dashboard affectionately. "Auron was pissed last time." Tidus' father had left him and his mother years ago, and his mother had died of an illness only a few years later. It never seemed to bother Tidus, though. His adoptive father was strict, and both father and son complained about each other often, but Yuna knew Tidus loved him fiercely.

"What do you vote, Paine?"

Paine shrugged. "You're not the one he's going to call at three in the morning if we don't meet up with him."

"Does he really do that?" Yuna couldn't help asking. Paine spared her a withering glance. Well—okay, of course Gippal would. He had a thing for annoying Paine. "Anyway," Yuna said thoughtfully, "it would be rude to not meet up with him. And it's not as thought we don't want to, right?"

"I'm pretty neutral," Tidus said brightly, even as he switched lanes—Gippal lived in a different part of town than Yuna, so it would be best to exit now. Gippal could definitely be annoying, but he was part of their group, he was their friend. It was the four of them, and it always would be.

* * *

x x x

* * *

Baralai was done with class for the day, but instead of heading back to his apartment after seeing Yuna off, he headed back into the campus. On his way to the library he ran into Leblanc. Leblanc was a year older than him, very blonde and very… frilly. She acted like an idiot—and most likely was one—but Baralai also knew that she did very well in her classes, mostly because Leblanc liked to brag about just that. He supposed they were friends. She was at least one of the people Baralai spent the most time with outside class. 

"Baralai-dear," Leblanc said brightly, hurrying over and miraculously not falling on her face while in high stiletto heels. She had lately decided to become more cultured, which meant that she swooped over and pecked Baralai on the cheek by way of greeting. It was a custom that always made him feel slightly silly, as did her nickname for him. "Have you seen _you-know-who_?"

"Nooj?" Baralai guessed. "Sorry, I'm afraid not… ah, I have to meet Seymour in a few minutes, so perhaps I should get going," he said hopefully. He didn't have to meet Seymour for another hour. It was just that he couldn't deal with Leblanc by himself. He needed Nooj there are well, if only to deflect the attention away.

"Well, _actually_, I have seen him. I was looking for _you_, love," Leblanc explained, linking her arm with Baralai's before he could react—well, he was used to it, but it was always unnerving. "Noojie is in one of his _moods_."

"I didn't see him during class," Baralai said thoughtfully. They shared a Latin class and a few others. Nooj wasn't pre-law, but their shared classes were how they had met. They were friends—and rivals. Nooj was older so they were in different years, and they were both at the top of their classes. In personality Nooj and Baralai were very different, too. They argued a lot. It was really only because of Leblanc that they had stopped arguing all the time, and become friendly rivals instead of bitter enemies—which was to say that Leblanc had seen their arguing and decided that it meant they were friends, and started dragging Baralai along whenever she and Nooj did something. Leblanc wasn't Nooj's girlfriend _yet_, but she made it very clear to everyone that she very much would like to be.

"Because he's in one of his moods," Leblanc repeated with the sweet patience you used on a troublesome child. Still with their arms linked, Leblanc began ushering Baralai in the direction he had come from. "You know how he gets. I think that seeing you visiting will spark him towards _recovery_."

"You mean, seeing me in his apartment will anger him out of his depression?" Baralai suggested. The slight sarcasm in his remark flew completely over Leblanc's head. "Leblanc, I really do need to meet with Seymour—" he added, as Leblanc seemed intent of guiding him by the arm all the way across town to Nooj's apartment after all.

"Seymour will be _fine_ without you," Leblanc said dismissively.

"It's not a matter of that," Baralai said impatiently. "Seymour is my mentor. It would be exceptionally rude if I didn't go to our meeting."

"What are you, his _servant_?" Leblanc huffed, "isn't Nooj's friendship more important to you than some scary law student?"

_Not really_… "I just need to be back in an hour," Baralai insisted. "Leblanc. I really must put my foot down on this. I'm sorry for you that Nooj is—upset—however…"

"Very well, Baralai-dear," Leblanc sighed, sounding terribly disappointed in Baralai. She often reminded him of his mother. Not in a particularly good way. "An hour it is. I'll try to hide the fact of your absence from Noojie."

"You do that," Baralai said. They were back in the parking lot by now.

"By the way, dearest, you're driving," Leblanc said, handing him her keys.

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_i will be moving to the Netherlands (from America) early next week, and don't know when i'll be able to have time to write/upload the new chapter. please be patient with me over the small hiatus; next chapter will have the start of the school year and Gippal, which might be something to look forward to? thank you for reading._  



	3. SWEET LITTLE BUMBLEBEE

_greetings from the netherlands! here, have a chapter, now with 75 percent more al bhed! witness gippal, rin, the mysterious vice principal (guess her identity, i dare you)... joking aside, this chapter is named after the song _BUMBLEBEE_ by _BAMBEE_, and i hope you enjoy this delayed chapter._

_a final note i thought i'd make clear (i think some people are getting the wrong idea): this story's couples. i think some people might have been thrown off by the baralai/yuna hints of the last chapter, so let me just say outright: this story is home to a _triangle_. tidus/yuna/baralai. this means that nothing is concrete. :P and even the people that know me shouldn't assume they know how it'll end... ;)_

_thanks once again to _**kj8673**_ for beta-reading this chapter.  
_

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SWEET LITTLE BUMBLEBEE (i know what you want from me)

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Rikku's school uniform didn't fit. She was small—the polite word was petite—and thin, and so had to order the absolute smallest sized uniform from the catalogue to get it to fit her without looking baggy. The blouse fit fine, so did the dark green vest and tie, but the problem was in the skirt. Pleated and dark green, Rikku figured it was supposed to be about knee length. But whoever had designed the "extra small" sized uniform seemed to have figured that the proportions would need to be extra small, too. It was meant to be about knee-length, but the skirt barely went half way down her thighs. 

Rikku didn't _mind_, especially since she had in her opinion _very_ nice legs (a plus of being on the swim-team)—but she sort of had the feeling that this was violating Saint Bevelle's dress code, somehow.

She had hoped that the Academy of Saint Bevelle would look less intimidating on the first day or school, with other students in the halls, but Rikku was finding that she was wrong in that prediction. Seeing other people around, all dressed in identical dark green and white uniforms, wasn't helping at all. They all looked like they were rich and preppy. Rikku imagined they were looking down on her and her too-small uniform.

She had kept an eye out for Tidus and even that Paine girl, they being the only people she knew here even vaguely, but so far Rikku had had no luck in spotting them. So instead she was wandering the halls somewhat aimlessly, looking for her homeroom—she had received her class schedule in the mail as promised the day before yesterday. Her homeroom teacher was also her economics teacher, and she was supposed to report to his room right away… if only Rikku could find it. She was starting to wish she had paid more attention to the tour.

"You there!" Rikku recognized the voice of the assistant principal, cutting loudly above the din of students greeting one another after a long vacation. She cringed. This was the part where she was going to get yelled at for her uniform, she was sure of it… but when Rikku turned around, she saw the tall woman marching over to a boy instead.

Looking at the boy, Rikku could see why. He wasn't wearing the vest of his uniform, for one, and had left his shirt partially unbuttoned. His tie hung untied around his neck, his sleeves were rolled up (revealing hands black with grease or dirt)—his blond hair was spiked up in the front with gel, he had to be wearing at least six earrings, and for _some_ reason he was wearing a white medical patch over his right eye. Compared to his breaking of the school uniform rules, Rikku felt perfectly safe with her short skirt.

The boy waved jauntily at the assistant principal. "Why, if it isn't Madam Lesky!" he said brightly, in the air of meeting up with a long lost friend. "It's been _ages_, darling, how _are_ you?"

"_Gippal_," the assistant principal said darkly, the single word somehow seeming to convey miles and miles of hatred. Rikku wanted to leave before she was noticed, but she suddenly recognized the name—Tidus had mentioned him, hadn't he? Gippal was a friend of Tidus'. Rikku stepped away so that her back was against the wall of the hallway, out of the way and able to watch the spectacle in peace. She realized she wasn't the only one watching. All around the hallway, students seemed to be walking slower suddenly.

"That is _all_ against school rules," the assistant principal continued, glaring daggers. "Where is your uniform?"

Gippal shrugged. "I'm wearing it." He produced a crumbled up ball of fabric from his bag that was revealed to be his vest. "See, Lesky? No need to send me home."

"Your hair—"

"Ain't no rules against hair gel," Gippal said brightly. "I checked."

"Sleeves—"

Gippal patiently rolled them down, pulled his vest on and struggled with knotting his tie. When that was done, he smiled brilliantly at his opponent.

"_Earrings_."

Gippal pouted as he took out all the ears in his left ear, and then in his right. "You let _girls_ wear earrings."

"I also let them wear skirts," came the retort. He grinned at her, amused.

"Anything else, ma'am?"

The assistant principal looked him over, obviously wanting desperately to find something wrong. Finally she glared. "Go wash your hands."

"My friend's car broke down!" Gippal exclaimed, "I _saved_ him. You should give me a medal, not an order."

Rikku wondered why the assistant principal hadn't brought up the patch covering Gippal's eye yet. Maybe it really was to cover an injury? The thought made her a little squeamish, somehow. Gippal bowed elegantly to the vice principal before calling out after her, "Until we meet again, my lady!"

"Join the drama club!" the woman called back, not turning around as she retreated to her office. Gippal snickered at her back, put his handful of earrings into his bag, and turned around to go back in the direction he had been heading before the interruption. As he passed Rikku and her spot on the wall, he casually reached over and grabbed her shoulder. Before she knew it, he had his arm around her shoulder and they were walking together like they were boyfriend and girlfriend—like they _knew_ each other.

"Did you like the show?" he asked brightly.

Blushing furiously and confused, Rikku realized that he had noticed her watching. Oops. He was acting so annoyingly _cool_ about it, too, like nothing about anything fazed him. Well, Rikku could do that, too. "I was just wondering how many earrings you had," Rikku explained, forcing her voice to be level. "My _old_ boyfriend had fifteen." A lie, Rikku's dad wouldn't allow her to date until she turned eighteen.

Gippal snickered. "Depends on if we're talking about the earrings in my ears or not." Rikku glanced sharply at him for that. "So, what about you?" he asked brightly, leading her around a corner—Rikku recognized this part of the school from the tour, they were probably heading towards the library. "How many piercings do you have?"

"Four," Rikku said firmly. Gippal glanced over at her, like she knew he would—checking her ears, which of course were only pierced once. He grinned down at her.

"Where are the others, hm?"

"You'd have to ask Tidus," Rikku said, trying to sound casual. Gippal let go of her at last to laugh properly.

"I doubt that, he's way too hung up over _Yunie_, and completely innocent besides," Gippal laughed. He snapped his fingers suddenly. "I know who you are now. You're that transfer student! Painey told me about you."

"Yup," Rikku said agreeably, wondering if 'that transfer student' was going to be her name from now on. "I'm Rikku."

"Nice to meet you," Gippal said, straight faced despite their earlier conversation. He looked down suddenly. "I like your skirt."

Rikku at once reached down to try and tug it down a little. He grinned at her. She blushed slightly and tried to ignore it. "Hey, do you know where professor, um, Rin's room is?"

"Rin?" Gippal blinked at her. "Hey, he's my homeroom teacher. Yours too?" Rikku nodded. "That's cool," Gippal said, nodding. "Yuna's with us, too, but Tidus and Paine have different homeroom teachers." He was speaking like Rikku was part of their group—slightly guiltily, Rikku realized that she really wouldn't mind that. Sure, she didn't know who this 'Yuna' was, and Paine was kind of scary, but the boys seemed nice so far.

"But anyway," Gippal said, "Rin's pretty cool, as long as you never make a bet with him. He'll _win_," Gippal spoke with awe and seriousness. Rikku wondered slightly what exactly the history to that remark was. "What other classes do you have?"

"Economics, Literature, Chemistry and Geometry," Rikku sighed, "Plus starting next week, I have swim practice in the mornings before school." She was used to the last part and didn't mind it, but she was still nervous about meeting the rest of the swim team.

"Rin teaches economics," Gippal said. "And the chemistry teacher is a _babe_, so she's okay too. But I dunno who you'll get for the other two; there are a few teachers. I always hate that, they never put the teacher's name on the schedule, only the room." Rikku had wondered about that, so she was glad it was normal and not just a flaw in her schedule.

"Gippal!" They both turned to see a girl approaching—her uniform was immaculate and looked like it hadn't a single crease or wrinkle anywhere, not to mention that it fit perfectly. She had short, dusty-brown hair and a kind face. "Hello, good morning—your friend?"

"Ah," Gippal said, sweeping into a dramatic bow, "the Lady Yuna graces us with her presence. Right?" he added, cheerfully.

"Don't call me something like that," Yuna said, "it's not even a nickname. And you are?" she asked Rikku.

"Um, Rikku—" Rikku stuck her hand out to shake, something about Yuna made her want to be formal. Gippal calling her 'Lady' seemed somehow accurate. "Nice to meet you."

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, too," Yuna said politely, smiling.

"Rik here is in our homeroom," Gippal said grandly. Rikku gave him an odd look at the nickname—she'd never had once before, and certainly never so quickly after meeting someone. "She is our infamous transfer student," he elaborated.

"Oh, I see," Yuna said. "Tidus told me about you," she added to Rikku. Rikku was starting to wonder how many people Tidus _had_ told—but it was flattering, she had to admit. "Anyway, Gippal, could you please tell Mr. Rin that I'll be late for homeroom? Shelinda called me last night, we have to start preparing for student council elections, and I wanted to meet up with her first thing..."

"Yeah, sure," Gippal said, shrugging. "Going to run again this year, Madam President? I thought you were too busy with your _boyfriend_…" he snickered as Yuna blushed red, holding her bag before her like a shield.

"I've told you and Paine, he's _not_ my boyfriend!" Yuna said defensively. "He's just a friend. A normal friend, not romantic friend. And he's older and probably isn't interested—and I'm not interested either, naturally."

"Then you should just let Tidus ask you out, then," Gippal suggested, more seriously. "All the kid does is _pine_…"

Yuna blushed at that, too. Rikku looked at the girl thoughtfully—she had never guessed that this was the sort of girl popular with the boys. It must be a side effect of going to private school, that the formal, preppy girls were the most attractive. That might be a problem in the long run, Rikku thought. She wasn't allowed to date, technically, but that didn't mean she couldn't flirt, right?

"He does not, if he liked me I would have noticed…" Yuna said, blushing as she looked thoughtful, then shook her head suddenly. "Why am I telling all this to you!" she exclaimed. Gippal snickered as she added, "you'll tell the whole school by third period. I'd better get going—Miss Rikku," Yuna added quickly, remembering the blonde was there, "it was nice meeting you."

"You too?" Rikku replied. Yuna looked distracted and embarrassed, and with a quick wave of her fingers good-bye she hurried off in the direction of, Rikku supposed, the student council room.

"She's high strung, our Yunie," Gippal said, slinging his arm right back around Rikku's shoulders and grinning when she squirmed, "but she's pretty cool in the end. C'mon, let's go give our new year's greetings to Rin, hm?"

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Rin was a cheery older man of no easily discernable age with long blond hair and a rather unflappable attitude that was not to be confused with goodwill, pliability or inattention. Rikku learned all of this within ten minutes of Economics class. Rin had the ability to command a room's attention without trying or, seemingly, even looking at his students. Or maybe that was another preppy school thing? Everyone at the desks around her were silently copying notes and charts from the board. Rikku was, too, but she was also trying to get a feel for her classmates. 

Gippal, Tidus, Paine and Yuna, it turned out, were all seniors, where Rikku was only a junior. Since they were a year ahead of her, they had different classes at different times, with the exception of lunch, study halls and homeroom. Not that she was friends with any of them yet, not really, but it would have been nice to have classes with someone she knew. The only good thing was that there were assigned seats in Rin's class, so Rikku didn't have to worry about sitting alone or in the middle of a group of friends. Seats were arranged by height, of all things, so Rikku was in the very front row. To her left was a boy with short brown hair and a slightly panicked look on his face—like he worried the blackboard would erase itself before he could copy all the notes. To her right was a red haired girl that seemed to be the personification of preppy seriousness. She had smiled back when Rikku tried to get her attention earlier, but was otherwise ignoring her in favor for working.

Rikku went back to her notes. All this stuff was way over her head. She'd never had an Economics class before, and this seemed to be a higher level, too. _Trade Agreement in Regards to the Events of_, Rikku wrote, trying to keep her handwriting neat. This was impossible.

"Miss Rikku?" She looked up sharply at her teacher's voice, panicked that she had done something wrong, she had copied the wrong thing, or too slowly—or maybe it was her skirt at last getting her in trouble? Rin smiled down at her. She noticed that he smiled a lot, but had no laugh-wrinkles at his mouth, even though he must be about her father's age. "Do not be alarmed. I merely wished to greet you," Rin was saying, quietly so as not to distract the other students. He spoke with a lingering accent Rikku couldn't place. "Of course, at the start of the new school year there are always new students, but I believe you are the only new third year on my class list. I apologize for not introducing myself in homeroom."

Gippal had trotted over to Rin and began betting wildly with the man, on everything from sports victories to the estimated time it would take before the vice principal suspended the first student of the school year (and, further, if that student would be Gippal or not). This had taken all of the fifteen minutes allotted to homeroom. The other students hadn't seemed to find this even a little out of the ordinary.

Rikku nodded and then shook her head, not sure which was more appropriate. "No problem," she whispered back.

"I am truly glad to hear it. I look forward to an eventful year," Rin said, somewhat ominously, Rikku thought. "Any family of Cid's is a friend to me."

"You know my dad?" Rikku squeaked, slightly louder than she ought to have been from surprise. To her further shock, Rin smiled and patted the top of her head (today done up in pigtails with green ribbons), like she was a small child.

"Everything is connected, Miss Rikku. I am not the only one." Rikku gaped at her teacher, notes forgotten completely. Her dad knew a teacher at this preppy school and hadn't mentioned it? He knew _this_ really suspicious teacher, even? She would have asked, but Rin's next remark was louder and addressed to the entire class. "I hope you have all finished copying the board, for now it is time for my lecture—"

The boy to her left gulped visibly and began to scribble furiously. Rikku had only half a page of notes copied, but she didn't even think of them. Absently, she began to doodle a flower and then a two cylinder engine in the blank bottom half of the paper. Rin, she decided finally, was just plain _scary_.

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	4. BOYS BE, GIRLS DO

_thanks once again to _**kj8673**_ for beta-reading this chapter, especially as this one needed it so desperately. ;)_

_after the slight delay (hey, i never promised fast updates), welcome to chapter four! the song this time is AFTER SCHOOL (BOYS BE, GIRLS DO), by CHICOCHAIR. i hope you enjoy this chapter, especially because i had so much trouble writing it. ;)_

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BOYS BE, GIRLS DO (after school)

「だれな一番」

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Literature was taught by a very old man who liked to lecture very, very much. Unlike Economics, the class hardly paid attention to the teacher's speech, passing notes and doodling in their books. The teacher hardly seemed to notice. Rikku felt a little bad for him, but after ten minutes of trying to listen she almost fell asleep. From then on, Rikku began to focus more on her classmates, some of who were also in her Economics class. An hour later, she hadn't learned anything at all from her teacher, but—by passing notes—she had learned that the girl with red-brown hair from Economics was named Shelinda, and that Shelinda was running for the position of secretary of the student council, and that Shelinda wanted Rikku to join the Amnesty International club, which Shelinda ran. 

Rikku had started to get the feeling that all Shelinda _did_ was clubs. The notes Shelinda passed over were long, too, paragraphs instead of the usual line or two. Rikku had felt exhausted trying to keep up. Eventually, however, class ended, and she was able to escape.

Lunch was uneventful. Rikku had brought a sandwich and can of soda from home, not sure what sort of the things the cafeteria would serve, and ate them alone at a table. Shelinda invited her to sit with her and her friends, but Rikku politely declined. Shelinda seemed _nice_, but so… enthusiastically goody-goody. Rikku hoped it didn't make her a bad person that she'd rather not get involved with that sort of thing. During lunch, she kept an eye out for Tidus, Gippal, or those two girls—but when Rikku finally spotted them, the four of them were sitting at their own table, talking and laughing at something Gippal had just said. The four of them seemed to fit so closely together, Rikku felt uncomfortable butting in. So she sat alone.

After lunch was Chemistry.

This was a class Rikku was actually looking forward to. She liked science, she always had. Chemicals and explosions seemed cool to her, if nothing else, and she was interested in it all. Maybe it was because her dad was a mechanic, but to Rikku, science seemed sort of like the mechanics of the world. She didn't mind classes like history or literature, but they just didn't seem practical in comparison.

Plus, if you took chemistry, there was a chance you'd witness an explosion. And that was just plain _cool_.

As Gippal had promised, the chemistry teacher was a babe. She wore a flowing black skirt and tight blouse that showed off her chest painfully well—which was, to Rikku (an A-cup herself) awe inspiringly huge. Her makeup was dramatic and her hair pulled back into several braids tied into a bun. Her gaze was frosty cold.

"Welcome," she said, after looking over the class, "to Chemistry. I suppose that most of you know me already—" she looked directly at Rikku, "but for those of you don't, my name is Lulu Makuro, and I will be your teacher for the next four months. I hope they will be pleasant ones." She took her attention away from Rikku and directed it towards the rest of the class. Like Rin, she had the ability to hold and keep attention on herself.

Rikku took notes when prompted, copying down the syllabus and class rules dutifully. Even private schools, it turned out, kept to the habit of the first class of the year being devoted to lectures about curriculum and grading policies. After two periods of it already, Rikku was bored of it. Chemistry class was arranged around lab stations, with four people to a table. The frantic boy from her Economics class was at hers, along with a girl with short black hair and another boy with frizzy blue-black hair and unusually long fingers. Quick and subtle note passing revealed that the girl was called Elma, the boys were Clasko and Zazi, and that their teacher had little tolerance for note passing—and had noticed hers.

Makuro smiled benevolently as she took the note away, read it for herself, and listened to Rikku's stammered apology. Then she gave Rikku a detention. "On the first day of school, no less," the chemistry teacher said. Rikku winced. "You might have just set a record."

So much for the school year starting off well.

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"My car is worse off than it was before," Tidus was saying. "Now it's making these weird clunking noises." 

"You're just imagining it," Gippal replied, taking a drink from his can of soda, even though eating and drinking weren't technically allowed in the halls. "I'm the best mechanic you know," he added, grandly.

"I'm not too sure 'bout that," Tidus grumbled. "Best at ruining my car, maybe. Best at bullshitting me, sure. Best at—"

"I feel," Gippal said, "unloved."

Tidus cheerfully ignored him as they rounded a corner and found the girls waiting for them, standing in one of the small alcoves built off the main hallway, Paine looking impatient and Yuna holding several heavy books in her arms. "Late, again," Paine said.

"I'll carry your books for you," Tidus said to Yuna hopefully. "Would suck if you broke your back—or arms—or—something. Anyway, I'm strong." There was a thin bragging note in that last sentence, one that flew over Yuna's head and caused Gippal and Paine to exchange knowing looks.

"Don't you have that class thing at college?" Gippal asked, after Yuna stammered and blushed her thanks and Tidus stammered and blushed his oh-no-it's-fines.

"Not today," Yuna said. "How was your first day?"

"Eh…" Gippal said, shrugging. "I've got Maechen first period, what do you expect?"

"Oh, how terrible," Paine said sarcastically. "All you do is sleep through that class anyway. You know, I have calculus first?"

"Oh, poor baby," Gippal retorted.

Tidus and Yuna had begun their own conversation in the meanwhile.

"I still dunno why you're taking those college classes anyway," Tidus said, a touch jealously. "I know you're smart, but can't you just hang out here and do more honors classes?"

"I could, but this is really the best way to get a head start," Yuna explained, playing with a lock of her hair. "The classes are _really interesting_, and my classmates are nice." Tidus scowled.

"Well, they are…" Yuna said feebly.

"Yeah, I believe you. But I mean—you can't trust kids like that," Tidus said sharply.

"Kids like what?"

Paine was meanwhile lecturing Gippal. "I'm not even sure how you got into this school. You have to start acting your age. We're seniors. You're never going to get into college at this rate."

"I'm starting to get suspicious," he replied cheerfully, "that you just want me to apply for a college _very far away_."

"And whatever could have given you that idea?" Paine asked sweetly.

Gippal never answered, suddenly looking alert. He had been slouching against the wall of a small alcove off the main corridor, but now he suddenly stood upright, running a hand through his hair, gaze on the people passing the four of them by. Paine watched too, curious as to what had caught his attention.

She saw blonde pigtails in green ribbons attached to a short girl wearing a short skirt. So did Gippal. He reached out and grabbed her by the wrist as she passed, yanking her in close to them like some sort of fisherman. She squeaked. He grinned at threw an arm over her shoulder, to everyone's general surprise. Yes, Gippal was known for acting oddly, but he wasn't usually so abrupt with strangers.

Paine now recognized the girl as the transfer student Tidus had befriended. She had to resist the urge to groan. Not Gippal, too? She seemed like such a ditz.

"Could you stop doing this?" Rikku asked Gippal crossly, glaring at his arm.

Yuna and Tidus had stopped their conversation too stare at Gippal's odd behavior, and Tidus grinned in happy recognition at Rikku. "Hey, Rikku, you're here now!"

"Yup yup!" Rikku said cheerfully, wriggling out of Gippal's grasp. "Nice to see you again! I looked for you earlier."

"You shoulda said hi," Tidus said. "Us jocks need to stick together," he added, joking just a little. He considered asking what Gippal was up to, but knew that was probably a pointless question. Even if Gippal had had a good reason, he'd be more likely to lie wildly than tell. He was probably just trying to annoy Rikku, that was all. Tidus felt bad for her, and so made sure to grin extra reassuringly at the short girl.

Yuna gave Tidus' friendly behavior a wary glance. "I see everyone's friends already," she said slowly.

"You remember Rikku," Gippal said, looking between Paine and Yuna. "She's my date to the October Dance, right?"

"Huh?" Rikku managed to say, blinking and caught by surprise. "I am?"

"Yup," Gippal said, nodding. "Didn't you know?"

"Uh…" If it was ineloquent, Rikku didn't think she could be blamed. Two seconds ago, she had been minding her own business as she walked. "No?"

Paine rolled her eyes. "Great," she muttered, "now we have two of them."

Yuna stifled a giggle, relieved that Rikku was Gippal's girlfriend and not—well, if girlfriend could be applied to a case like this.

"I just met you this morning! And you're saying that I'm your date?"

Gippal was silent for a moment, sticking his hands in his pockets, a thoughtful look on his face. Then he grinned. "That's right."

"It doesn't work like that!" Rikku exclaimed. "Right, right?" She looked to Tidus for backup.

He grinned and shrugged. "Maybe you should at least know a little bit about Rikku before you jump into stuff like this," he suggested.

"I already do," Gippal said, managing to sound both cocky and affronted. "I know all about Rikku! She's on the swim team, and I know her classes, too. She's, oh, about five two…" he made a vague gesture to indicated her height. Then he made a horizontal gesture. "And just as short in front, too."

Rikku was suddenly bright red, and she punched him. "Pervert!"

"This is all really endearing," Paine interrupted, "except that I have better things to do, like photography club."

"Well, that's no fun," Gippal said, stopping his teasing of Rikku at once. He slouched back against the wall, hands laced behind his head. "I wanted to hang out."

"What, the two of us aren't good enough for you?" Tidus asked, pointing between himself and Yuna.

Gippal shrugged as if to say he wasn't sure.

Yuna giggled. "And you?" she asked Rikku. "Do you have any plans?" Rikku stared at the brunette for a moment, realizing that she had just been _invited_, like she belonged. They were treating her like it was okay if she wedged her way in—except for Paine, anyway. And except for Gippal, who seemed more perverted than friendly in retrospect.

She started to tell Yuna that she had no plans, that she'd be happy to do whatever, just to remain in on the social scene. Rikku wasn't used to being the new kid, but she did know a thing or two about making friends, and she was pretty sure that it wouldn't be good to avoid friendly people when they invited her along. She was about to say all this, when suddenly she remembered.

"I have detention."

Silence. Then Gippal burst out laughing. "You got detention on the first day of school?" Rikku cringed, but he went on without paying attention: "Awesome!"

"Is it?" Rikku couldn't help but ask.

"You bet! You know how much money you just won me off of Rin?" Gippal grinned. "In honor of this, I'll treat on our first date." He looked like he was about to grab her again, so Rikku stepped away.

"Great?"

"How'd you get a detention?" Paine asked, eyebrow quirked.

Rikku blushed. "In chemistry…"

"Oh," Tidus said, like that explained everything.

"I'm supposed to go to the vice principal's office," Rikku said. "I was heading there before Gippal, um," 'reeled me in' didn't seem like the right wording, somehow. She shrugged.

"Whatever," Paine said, sounding bored. "I'm going, okay? I'll take the train home after club."

"I'll walk with you," Yuna decided. She smiled goodbyes at the others. "See you tomorrow!" Leaving Rikku alone with the boys.

"Give me a ride home," Gippal told Tidus.

"Learn to drive."

"Aw, man, you know that's a low blow," Gippal groaned.

"You can't drive?" Rikku couldn't help but asking, even though the halls were nearly empty now and she thought that she should probably being hurrying to detention. It was just, as the daughter and sister of mechanics, living in an apartment above an autobody shop, Rikku had been driving—legally and not—since she was twelve.

"My grandparents won't let me," Gippal explained, sighing. He tapped at the medical patch over his right eye, held in place by two elastic strings. "They think it's too dangerous, cuz of my eye."

"Your parents agree?" Rikku asked.

"Dunno," Gippal said, "I've never met my dad, and mom left when I was two." There was a slight edge in his voice, and Rikku wisely dropped the subject. He turned back to Tidus. "So drive me home."

"No," Tidus said. "I'm not letting you near my car until after I get it fixed for real."

Gippal sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets, fishing out his earrings from their depths. "Fine," he sighed, screwing up his face as he put his earrings back in. "Come on, Riks, let's get going."

"You have detention, too?" she asked.

"Nope! All the more reason to rub it into Lesky's face!" Gippal said brightly. "'Sides, Coach Wakka has detention today, and he ain't half bad."

"He's not," Tidus said, "he's cool. My soccer coach. Hey, I'll see you two tomorrow, okay?"

"You bet," Gippal said, giving Tidus an affectionate slap on the arm.

"Bye…" Rikku said slowly, thinking hard. She bit her lip and hardly noticed Tidus' departure. "Wakka's a pretty uncommon name… isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah?" Gippal said, leading the way to the offices. "What's wrong? You look like someone just spit on your grave."

"…Nothing," Rikku said nervously, shaking her head. "It _can't_ be the same guy. No problem."

"You sure you're okay?" Gippal asked, surprisingly kindly. Rikku looked up at him to see him looking down at her, a concerned expression on his face. _Cute_… but she couldn't concentrate on thoughts like that now. She shook her head again, more convincingly.

"I'm fine!" she chirped. "There's no way the world is _that_ small. A different guy for sure. Let's go!"

"Whatever you say," Gippal shrugged.

There's no way, Rikku told herself again. There's no way he's the same Wakka as last year… right?

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	5. 左様なら

_an update, and in fairly record time! thanks yet again to **kj8673** for beta reading/indulging my impatience/confusing me with grammar/agreeing about the cherry blossoms - leblanc _totally does_ live in a shoujo manga, let's all just admit that now. speaking of cherry blossoms, today's chapter is titled after the song SAKURA by NIRGIRLS. the japanese, by the way, reads "sayounara," which means, of course, "farewell." heheh... the songs i choose, by the way, don't usually have a deeper meaning, i just pick weird lyrics or something, but this time things actually make a certain amount of sense with the chapter itself. how unusual._

_thanks to my readers, double thanks to my reviewers, and please enjoy this chapter._

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x x x

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左様なら (FALL IN LOVE)

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Cid's Auto-Body Shop had been in business for twenty-six years. Cid and his children lived in the apartment above the garage, and as long as Rikku could remember that was the way it had been. She did the cooking and household chores, and her brother and father worked on cars. Maybe because of that—because Cid's Auto-Body could claim truthfully to be a father-son business— it was small, but had a good reputation, which was important in the car business. Especially the car-repair business. There had been arguments, of course. People thinking they were overcharged, thinking that the work was shoddy, normal things like that. But only one serious incident. 

A year ago.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Gippal asked, frowning down at Rikku. She was getting paler and paler. He was starting to worry. She nodded, but slowly. Gippal wasn't stupid. Rikku had started acting funny only after she found out that Coach Wakka was sitting in detention today. And there was that talk about him being the 'same person.' Gippal was about dying of curiosity, but he was too worried that Rikku was about to faint to ask.

They had reached the classroom assigned to detention, only to find that Wakka wasn't there yet. No other students had been given or shown up to detention, so they had the room to themselves. Rikku had wandered to a table in the back and sat down silently, staring at her lap. Gippal had sat next to her on the right, in order to be able to look at her warily out of the corner of his eye.

He didn't see the big deal. As far as teachers went, Coach Wakka was cool. Cooler than most, actually. He was young, only in his second or third year of teaching, and popular with his students for his friendliness and informality. Wakka was the sort of teacher you could talk to, not about dull stuff, but about important stuff like movies and music. And he was a good coach, too. Saint Bevelle's soccer team was going to win the league this year for sure, between Coach and Tidus.

"You sure?" Gippal asked again. The idea of tact briefly skimmed his mind, but in the end he decided against it. You never got anywhere if you never said anything. "'Cause, you know, Wakka's pretty cool. One of the better teachers here."

Rikku nodded again, visibly scared. It was sort of catching. Gippal found himself wondering himself. Did Wakka have a bad side? No. Gippal had never seen him angry, not even after that time some troublemaking students had broken into the supply shed and punctured every single soccer ball, basketball and football the school had stored there. Wakka had been annoyed, yeah, but he hadn't taken it out on anyone. He had laughed and taught his classes baseball instead. Did Wakka and Rikku have a history together? That was a weird thought. Wakka was only around twenty-five, but that was still too old to date a girl of seventeen. But what if that was a case? What if the two of them had been madly in love and suffered a bad break up? Their love was true, but society had frowned on their age difference, and things had fallen apart—no one would ever, ever accuse Gippal of not being imaginative.

Then he remembered that Coach had a thing for Makuro ('thing' was putting it lightly, everyone in the school knew that Wakka had it bad for the chemistry teacher, and there were plenty of bad jokes to that effect. _He'd like to get to know_ her _chemicals_, things like that).

But Rikku's appearance seemed to support Gippal's growing jilted lover theory. Maybe Wakka had dumped her for Makuro? Maybe it was a huge, torrid affair. Gippal knew that he had been acting like an idiot around Rikku, but he didn't really like her that much yet. Despite his outward actions, he hardly knew her. She was just cute and fun to tease. It was fine if she didn't want to date him. Gippal was because of this completely without jealousy as he considered his growing scenario of sex and lies. This was all very cool. Who said that this sort of thing only happened on television?

Then Gippal remembered that he didn't actually know he was right yet. "Is Wakka your ex?"

Rikku looked over at him for the first time since they had left Tidus behind. "What?"

"Wakka. Is he your ex?" Gippal asked patiently, pretty sure he was on the right track.

Rikku shook her head no dumbly. "Why would you think that?"

"Uh…" Gippal thought about it. "It made sense. To me."

She looked too honestly surprised to be lying. "No, it's… I think… is he really tall, with red hair?"

"Yup."

Rikku looked back down at her lap, troubled. "Then… I know him."

"But he's _not_ your ex," Gippal said, trying to confirm the fact again.

"No!" Rikku said loudly, "I'd never date someone like _that_!" She looked guilty. "It's…" she sighed. "My pops owns an auto-body shop, right?"

"Really?" Gippal asked brightly. "Your dad is a mechanic? You know, I'm—"

Rikku cut him off with a gesture. Maybe it wasn't the best time for bragging, Gippal thought reluctantly.

"'Bout a year ago," Rikku continued, "a guy bought his car to us. First-time customer. I don't know what went wrong, if it was even our fault, but a week after he took his car in for repairs; he got into a car accident. And died. His brakes failed." Rikku sighed heavily. "Wakka—if it's the same Wakka—is his older brother. After his brother died, he started harassing my family. Calling us, coming up to the garage and yelling, insulting my brother, spreading rumors that we used illegal parts… nasty stuff like that. He sued us, too. He _hates_ my family. All because of an accident." Rikku played with a pigtail nervously. "I'm scared it's the same person."

Gippal sat silently for a minute, trying to picture Coach Wakka doing these things. He couldn't. "I dunno," he said slowly, "maybe you're just paranoid."

Rikku smiled weakly. "Hope so."

They sat in silent for a minute, Rikku with her hands in her lap. Gippal didn't believe for a second that this was the same Wakka that they were thinking about, but he could understand that she would be scared of the idea that he was. After a minute, he grinned over at her. "Relax, kiddo. Believe me, I know Wakka, and he's not the vengeance type."

"I'm only a year younger than you," Rikku said idly. But she looked a little more relaxed. "Yeah. You're probably right, you know? I'm just worrying about nothing."

"And at this rate," Gippal added helpfully, "detention will be over before he even shows up."

"Yup!" Rikku said, this time managing to sound cheery. She blushed slightly. "Um, I meant to say earlier, but thanks for coming with me, since you don't have to."

Gippal shrugged. "Nah. You're my date, remember?"

"I am _not_!" Rikku said, turning a nice shade of red. "I don't even know you!" He was nice in a way, she decided, but it seemed like he was a little too eager to be annoying. And if he wasn't teasing, then that was even worse. Not that Gippal wasn't cute and all—because, well, he was very cute, Rikku thought, in any other circumstance she'd probably be giggling over him in the halls—but the idea that this guy could and would decide on things like that so quickly was… it was flattering, Rikku guessed, but kinda not at the same time.

Maybe she was just having a bad day.

"Um," Rikku started to say. Then the classroom door opened. The teacher was very tall and broad shouldered, with a square face and a shock of red hair. Rikku's growing hopes fell like a sack of bricks.

"Yo!" Gippal said, at once distracted from his conversation. He hopped up from his seat and ambled over to the teacher—Wakka, oh, it _was_ him, it was him, Rikku was turning red, her heart pounding. "Hey, guess what? I'm here, but I'm not actually in detention! How's that, huh?"

"You really gotta brag about that?" Coach Wakka asked, eyes narrowed slightly, then he grinned and shook his head. "Man, you gotta be the only kid I've ever known that shows off about that sorta thing. How'd you get into this school, anyway?"

"Well, you see," Gippal said, smirking—then he remembered Rikku, who was trying to make herself very small in the meanwhile. "Oh, right, there's a girl here for detention," he said. "I think she's a jilted lover."

"Who's?" Wakka asked suspiciously. But he had known the blond for too long to take his words very seriously. He glanced to the back of the room, noticing the small blonde girl for the first time. Pigtails, school uniform, her face hidden behind her palms… a shy kid, he figured. He affected a friendly grin and waved to her. "No need to be scared, yeah? Even if you did get detention on your first day, it's no problem." She slouched over further, apparently trying her hardest to be invisible. "Well," Wakka said, trying to send an impression of no menace, "I'll need your name for the list, yeah?"

She mumbled something. Wakka turned to Gippal for help—they had been sitting together, so they were probably friends. But Gippal looked suddenly edgy, having just remembered the reason for Rikku's worries. He still didn't believe it, but… he didn't want to get her in trouble, all the same. But Rikku wasn't _that_ rare a name. "It's Rikku," he said.

Wakka scrawled it down. "What's your surname?" he asked, looking at both blonds for help. Gippal shrugged, honestly not knowing. Rikku was silent, and Wakka thought absently that she was acting _really_ suspiciously. He had seen some of the preppier students crying about detentions in the past, however, so it didn't really faze him. "Come on, I'm not gonna bite," he joked.

Rikku looked up after a few seconds, her eyes narrowed and jaw set in a way that made her look a lot like her father. "It's Beid," she said quietly, cheeks red from nerves.

"Ah," Wakka managed to say, a familiar thick feeling in his throat as recognition sunk in. His eyes narrowed. Gippal looked between the two of them with a frown of his own, stomach sinking. This… could be bad.

"What the hell is a…" Wakka edited himself before he finished that thought, then smiled darkly. "Get out."

Rikku didn't argue or wait for another word to be said. She ran.

After a second of staring at the coach in mute, wide-eyed surprise, Gippal followed her.

* * *

x x x

* * *

It had been two years ago, on the first day of school. She had been wearing a pink skirt and white blouse; her pumps, earrings and other jewelry picked out to match the color of her skirt. Her hair had been long then, and it had blown back in the slight breeze of the clear spring day despite the pale pink cloth she had tied around it. Petals shed from the nearby cherry trees had drifted through the air. 

That had been the day she had first met _him_.

She had been walking down the path, stylish purse (two shades darker than her skirt) in one hand, and new textbooks in the other. She had tripped over an uneven paving stone and gone flying, her hose tearing at the knee. And as she had sat there, surprised and embarrassed and mourning the loss of the brand-new sheer hose she had bought just the other day, _he_ had bent down and silently gathered her books, unfolding the creased pages. He had helped her to her feet, handed her the books and her purse, and started to go back on his way. He hadn't said a word.

_Wait_, she had called after him. _Wait, wait_—

He had turned around, his dark eyes unreadable. "What do you want?" he asked, as if annoyed she was interrupting him, as if he hadn't just helped her. And at that moment, with ripped hose and a smudge of dirt on her new skirt, her hair falling messily around her face, her eyes wide and cherry petals drifting all around—at that moment, she had fallen in love with him.

Leblanc had short hair now, cut boyishly and dyed blonde. She had transferred out of art school and into Remiem University's business college, and she had taken to wearing more expensive, more sophisticated clothes and jewelry. Gold bangles, black skirts and pumps, rich perfumes and silk blouses. She held two part-time jobs and spent much of the rest of her time trying to stay at the top of her class—she wouldn't want to hold _him_ back with an impractical degree, and she wouldn't shame him with a girlfriend who couldn't manage decent grades. Leblanc had a knack for business, as it turned out. She hardly ever missed art school one bit. Especially since this was all for _his_ sake.

Nooj.

Leblanc was pulled out of her recollections by the approach of Baralai. As usual, he was dressed like a man ten years older, and as usual he looked somewhat tired. "Afternoon," he said.

"You look terrible," Leblanc told him once she had greeted him in turn, kissing him briefly on both cheeks. She'd seen it a lot in the movies, this kissing thing, and since Nooj would like a sophisticated girlfriend, Leblanc had been trying to copy the habit.

Baralai raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for informing me. I had an exam, and stayed up late studying."

"You're _already_ at the top of your class," Leblanc said, not seeing the point.

Baralai shrugged. "I want to get into a good law school," he said, then changed the subject. "Is Nooj feeling better today?"

"Oh, yes," Leblanc said brightly, warming up to her favorite subject, "no thanks to _you_, love, but _I_ managed to cheer him up a _bit_."

"Congratulations," Baralai said seriously. Leblanc smiled at the compliment. "I didn't see him in class today, however. I thought I'd ask."

"Well. I don't know about _that_, he said he'd go…" Leblanc frowned, worried. "Perhaps his leg was paining him this morning. That happens, you know."

"Hm…" Baralai, being the insensitive person he was (really, Leblanc knew they were friends, but it was _true_) didn't seem to care one bit. "Well," he said after a pause, "I'm done with class for the day. I was wondering if you were going to visit him, and if I could possibly tag along. I feel a little guilty for leaving him alone the other day."

"You didn't leave him _alone_, I was there," Leblanc pointed out. Baralai's mouth twitched in a suppressed smile, but he didn't say anything. "But I appreciate your concern and goodwill," she added. "I'm certain Nooj would _love_ a visit from you. I know," Leblanc said brightly, "we'll stop at the _market_ on the way, and I'll buy dinner supplies! Won't that be a nice surprise?"

"I'm sure he'll be astonished," Baralai said agreeably.

"It'll be wonderful," Leblanc decided, linking her arm in Baralai's—really, he wasn't such a bad sort after all, was he?—and beginning to lead him in the direction of her car. "I'm so glad you suggested it."

Baralai looked at her with mild surprise. "No, this was your idea. I wouldn't want to… take the credit away from you."

"You're sweet," Leblanc cooed. "Tell me. Why don't you have a girlfriend yet?"

"I wonder," Baralai said, but refused to elaborate.

"Well, I'll tell you what. When there's a girl you like, I promise to do _everything_ I can to help you catch her. Won't that be nice?"

"Wonderfully. I thank you, but I don't think that'll be necessary."

"I insist. You don't have to be so _shy_ all the time, Baralai. Shyness just leads to _insecurity_. Be confident and people will be _drawn_ to you. Just look at me!" Leblanc began to warm up to the idea of playing matchmaker. Really, it would be good for Baralai to loosen up a bit, and who better than she to help him find a girlfriend? "Yes, I really do think we'll have to do this. Tell me. Are there any girls you admire in your classes?"

"I don't think that's your concern," Baralai said, and even Leblanc could hear the slight irritation in his voice.

"I saw you sitting with that brown-haired girl a few days ago," Leblanc said thoughtfully, ignoring him. "She seems rather like the _goody-goody_ type, but I suppose she's a good _start_. What's her name?"

"Yuna," Baralai said after a moment. They were in the parking lot by now, and he quickly changed the subject. "Shall I drive?"

This time, Leblanc let it go. "Yes, yes. That will be fine," she said, digging through her purse for her keys. "You know, I don't know why someone as _rich_ as you doesn't own a car."

"I'm not rich," Baralai protested, weakly. It was true that he didn't have a lot of money to throw around, but it was also true that he didn't have a job—his parents paid for his apartment, education, food and clothing. "And I live so close to the school, there's really no point."

Leblanc held out the keys, but didn't drop them into his extended hand. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. "Don't think that I'm going to just _forget_ about this," she said. Baralai looked confused for a moment. "It would be _so_ good for you to have a girlfriend. I understand that you're embarrassed, that you're the shy, quiet type—" Leblanc didn't notice his confused expression fall away, replaced with one of annoyance. She nodded in agreement with herself as she spoke. "But don't worry. I'll let you escape the subject _this_ time, but we'll talk about it later."

Baralai walked around to the driver's side, opening the door and climbing in. "I'm not worried, I promise."

"Wonderful!" Leblanc said brightly, getting in the car itself. Her car was a small, sleek purple compact, and she was very proud of it. She settled into the passenger's seat, letting the conversation lapse after telling Baralai where the best market was to be found. She looked out the window, her expression almost serene. A _project_. She hadn't had one of these in ages, and for such a good cause! Baralai could be insensitive and didn't care nearly as much about Nooj as he should, but he was still a _friend_. Leblanc determined to help him find a girlfriend as quickly as possible. It was the least she could do.

_Yuna_. That was the name he had given the girl. Leblanc smiled. She'd seen the girl around. They shared a philosophy class. Leblanc decided to sit next to her next lesson, and get to know her a little. And then? Well. She'd just see what she could do.

She was _such_ a good friend, after all.

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	6. ANNEX: A M

_This isn't the next chapter. Sorry. I know people like this story, but I said from the start that I couldn't afford to make the hi!school AU my highest priority - right now that honour falls to WAGES OF SIN, a collab FFX 'fic I'm working on in the FFX section (see my profile for details). I haven't given up on TUNE IN ME, don't worry. I just don't have a fixed scedule for it._

_This isn't a chapter. This is an out-take, an omake, a side-story, whatever. A while ago, KJ-my-beta asked me as part of a meme to write her something pertaining to this story and specifically, Paine. This is the result. It fits into the story's canon, taking place shortly before chapter three._

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x x x**  
**

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**annex: A.M.**

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x x x

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Paine's mobile woke her up, ringing shrilly in the darkness of her room. She groaned and stuck a pillow over her face, hoping to ignore it until her caller went away. That didn't happen; they just called again. She mumbled a curse to herself, too tired to put any real venom in it, and rolled over, reaching clumsily out to her nightstand. Her fingers brushed over a glass of water and the cover of the book she was reading before landing on the shrill phone. She considered throwing it against the wall and looked at the time displayed on the screen instead. Two thirty-eight AM. She pressed the acknowledge button, rolling onto her back, and put the mobile to her ear. "What the hell do you want?" Paine didn't have to look at the caller-ID to know who was bothering her this time of night.

The briefest of pauses. "What, you aren't happy to talk to me?"

"You have two seconds before I hang up." Paine said, meaning it. On the other end, Gippal chuckled. She could just picture him, the bastard, sprawled out in a chair in some strange position, lights blazing in his tiny room, computer and television both on, dirty clothes on the floor and blankets tangled into a lump on his bed.

"I couldn't sleep," he told her.

"First you get in bed, then you turn off all your crap, then you close your eyes and _don't call me_," Paine replied darkly.

"Keep this up and I'll get myself a new best friend," Gippal said, sounding cheerful more than anything else.

"Mmm." Paine was exhausted, and tomorrow was the first day of school - of all things. She closed her eyes. "I'd help you with that."

"Cool," said Gippal. "Got anyone in mind?"

"Shelinda."

"Awesome," he said, yawning in the middle of the word. They were silent for a minute, Paine's eyes heavy. She didn't want to open them ever again, she thought. She kept the phone to her ear. After a moment, Gippal spoke again. "So tomorrow we'll be seniors, huh?"

"Yes."

"Weird."

"Yes..."

"Your mom doing okay?" Gippal asked, suddenly serious.

Paine was quiet for a few seconds, rolling over to her side. "Sure. I guess. The divorce is going okay."

"Your dad?"

"He's fine."

"You?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." A pause. "My grandparents were yelling at 'Dala all afternoon."

"They aren't bad," Paine said, fighting a yawn.

"Yeah..."

"Do you ever miss your parents?" Paine asked.

"Dunno," Gippal said guardedly. But he always asked after Paine's parents, always. "You going to be in school tomorrow?"

"Of course." Paine rolled back onto her back, staring uselessly up at the ceiling.

"Okay," he said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Paine said.

"You bet--" Gippal replied, a catch in his voice like he wanted to say something more. Paine waited patiently, knowing that that was the best way to get him to talk. "Izzy?"

She didn't correct him. It was too late, she was too tired, and she had known him for too many years. "Mm?"

"...See you," he muttered.

_I love you too_, she thought sleepily. What an annoying brother she had found herself. "Good night."

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	7. CHERRY GIRL

In my defense, I said way back in chapter one that I wasn't going to be updating this story quickly. I was going to take another month to write another scene, but in the end decided that while I take that month, the rest of you might as well have something to read.

Anyway, this chapter's title is also the name of a song, CHERRY GIRL by KODA KUMI. Some of you might remember her as the one who performed real Emotion/1000 Words in the Japanese version of FFX-2; she's a very good singer, and in my world, Lenne is _always_ sung by her.

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_CHERRY GIRL  
_

_if you stumble just laugh it off_

_it's alright to walk barefoot_

_don't let your feelings get in the way_

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x x x

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Three minutes and twenty-two seconds. Rikku frowned in between gasps, clutching to the side of the pool with both hands. After a few moments, her breath slowed. She started again.

Four-minutes and one point eight seconds. Worse.

Three minutes and thirty-nine point two seconds. Better, but still terrible.

Three minutes forty-seven---

Three minutes fifty-one---

The second time Rikku got over four minutes (four minutes and seventeen seconds), she gave up. Gasping and clinging to the side of the pool, barely able to muster the strength to stay afloat, she pulled her swim goggles off her eyes and let them dangle around her neck. Pathetic. Here she was--unable to manage a decent time--swimming was supposed to be her thing--and here she was, skipping class to practice and doing worse and worse--skipping class...

But if she really looked at it, really admitted it to herself, Rikku hadn't skipped class to 'practice' at all. It had just been her excuse, and probably not a good one at that. She just hadn't been able to stomach it. The idea of going into St Bevelle--of possibly seeing _him _in the halls...

Rikku had only been a student for three days, and she was already starting to fail. Detention on her first day, cutting on her third... she was well on her way to becoming a bad student. Rikku had never been a _good _student, exactly, not even in her old school. She wasn't the smartest person in the world... she had gotten poor grades... she had sometimes blown off a class, _sometimes _done something to land her in detention. But nothing so deliberate.

Finally she mustered up enough strength to pull herself out of the pool. First class was probably only half over by now, so the gym was still deserted. Rikku had arrived here at six this morning for swim team practice, and stayed once everyone else had showered and changed and left for class. No one seemed to have noticed or cared. It had been her first meeting with the swim team--four other girls and five boys. Two of them--a boy and a girl--were also Juniors, but Rikku hadn't recognized them. What she _had _noticed, though, was that everyone was much stronger than her.

Rikku had been under the impression that, since St Bevelle had recruited her specifically for her swimming ability, it must mean that she was a swimmer of exceptional talent and skill. That she would join the swim team and amaze everyone with her ability, winning trophy after trophy and bringing the school to a new level of fame.

She hadn't realized that the other swimmers had, of course, been recruited as well: that they were good, too, and that they had been practicing longer. As the newest member of the team, Rikku was probably the _weakest _swimmer.

If she could just beat three minutes... Rikku's legs finally felt strong enough to support her weight, and she climbed out of the pool. It was probably impossible. She was a high school student, not an olympic athlete. Dripping wet and worn out, Rikku picked up her towel from a bench and draped it over her shoulders, padding over to the locker rooms to shower the chlorine out of her hair and change. Her legs and arms ached, and she had the feeling that her tiredness wasn't only from the extra swim practice. She wasn't the best student, maybe, but Rikku had never been the kind to try and get into trouble. How long could she keep running away? Sooner or later she'd get into trouble for skipping... and the solution, to stop and face... she couldn't tell her brother or dad...

She sighed deeply as she rounded the corner to the girl's locker room. And practically tripped over Gippal, who was sitting with splayed legs on the floor, reading a newspaper avidly. As usual, his uniform was in a state of disarray, his hair spiked, and his right eye covered with a white medical patch. Despite Rikku's surprise at seeing him--not only cutting a class, but doing so here, and in such an inconvenient spot--he hardly glanced towards her. Just a flicker of his eyes, and then back to the paper.

"Excuse me," Rikku said primly, resisting the urge to pull the towel from her shoulders and use it to cover her torso. It was too late now, and anyway Rikku wasn't too concerned about who saw her in a swimsuit to begin with.

"Oh, sorry," Gippal said, turning the page as he pulled up his legs. Not sure what else to do, Rikku walked by him and into the girl's locker room.

* * *

x x x

* * *

In the shower, Rikku wondered about him. She had known Gippal for exactly as long as she had been attending St Bevelle -- three days. But he had acted from the start like they had known each other longer, like they were dating. Which was flattering, and nice, and a _little_ annoying, but... But Gippal had also been there in detention. He was the only other one that knew about her and... Even though she would never have told him otherwise. But in the two days since then, Rikku hadn't seen him. She _had _seen Tidus, and once that Isabelle-Paine girl, but she had avoided them both. She was afraid to see Gippal... that was it. Afraid of what he might have told his friends... Rikku remembered Paine mentioning that Gippal couldn't keep secrets... and what he might think of her, running away like a little kid.

Three days wasn't really long enough to send a message--the message being "I am avoiding you"--but Rikku had planned in a guilty way to keep it up, to keep doing it, to lose the potential friends she had found before even making them, all to keep from having to come to a confrontation about it. But it didn't look like Gippal was going to let her avoid him. Rikku tried to kid herself into believing he happened to be skipping class at the same time as she, that he happened to have gone to the same place... and sit down right where she'd notice him, be forced to notice him...

There was a unfamiliar squirm in her stomach as she dressed that Rikku didn't think could be counted entirely towards nervousness. But if this was what having a crush was like, maybe she was better off without.

Showered, dressed, and another ten minutes spent on putting her hair in a pony tail--there was nothing left for Rikku to do in the girl's locker room without making her stalling _exceptionally _obvious. Second period was starting soon, but she wasn't going to hide in the girl's locker room until then. Gippal was still sprawled out in the corridor when she left.

"Hi," she said.

"Check it out," Gippal said happily, nodding towards the newspaper in his lap. "You know that pop idol? Lenne? Izzy has one of her CDs, but she doesn't admit it. I found it under her bed."

Rikku wasn't sure where this line of conversation was going--was Gippal crafty or just as dumb as she was? "I have some of her CDs," Rikku said defensively.

"Really? I like her deep voice, and she's pretty hot, but I don't think her music is that good," Gippal said. "It's like she can't decide if she's pop or hip-hop. Anyway, she's dead."

"Huh?" Rikku wasn't a huge fan of Lenne's, but the idol was the City's biggest pop celebrity, celebrated for her looks and fashion as much as her music. Most of the girl's in Rikku's old high school had been fans, trading CD singles and singing her hits karaoke. "What?"

"Dead. D-E-A-D. She was found murdered yesterday," Gippal said, gesturing towards the paper. "She was found all shot up, and her boyfriend's missing. Wanted for questioning. Tidus'll be heart-broken, he liked Shuyin." At Rikku's confused look--she had fallen somewhat behind--Gippal clarified. "Lenne's boyfriend is a pro soccer player, right forward--or left forward, or maybe he's goalie or something--on Tidus' favorite team."

"You know all the gossip, huh?" Rikku asked, sitting down cross-legged on the floor opposite Gippal, along the opposite wall. It didn't look like Gippal was going to bring up anything important, so she felt slightly safer.

"Rumor also has it," he said, grinning, "that Judge Alexander will be presiding the case, since he's the number one judge around here. You don't know the girls I hang with," he added. "If I don't gossip, no one will. Izzy is all high and mighty about it, and Lady Yun-Yun feels scandalized by it." Gippal was quiet for a moment, thinking about his fate as Rikku considered the same.

After a minute, he grinned, closing his paper and leaning towards Rikku. "Speaking of gossip, there's a rumor going around school that Coach Wakka did some nasty stuff to your family and you're planning to skip all your classes until he apologizes."

"What? No!" Rikku shrieked, standing up in a flash. "That's not--what--it's none of your business!"

"I started the rumor myself," Gippal said proudly, standing up as well. "Told all the right people. Like Ms. Makuro. Now Vice Principle Lesky is looking into it--I told her--and Ms. Makuro is pissed at Coach, and everyone knows he has the hots for her, so--" Rikku shoved him, hard, her face hot. "Huh?"

"Shut up." Her face burning, she couldn't even look him in the eyes. "I can't believe you would--"

"...I was trying to help," Gippal said, exasperated. "Don't you get it? Now that everyone knows, Coach'll _have _to make up with you, treat you decent. And you won't have to--"

"SHUT UP!" Rikku shrieked, tears filling her eyes. "That's not how--you're--" she didn't know what to say, let alone how to word it. She shoved past the confused boy and ran out of the gym.

* * *

x x x

* * *


End file.
